Hereditary Film Review (2018) – True Horror Beneath!

(This is the Hereditary film review, which is a horror film released in 2018)

Yet another horror film has been released and sometimes we are wondering if such genre has already gone past its expiry dates, especially with many disappointing releases over the past years. Hereditary does look like a typical supernatural horror film in and out, at least from the trailer, premise and the poster. With it being the featured debut of Ari Aster, and also featuring casts such as Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, Ann Dowd, and Gabriel Byrne. Could this film actually be different from the rest of the crop? Read on the Hereditary film review below to see through the fear of its score!

Premise

The story begins with Annie, a miniaturist artist who is saddled with the death of her secretive mother, Ellen. However, things start to go awry when her husband informs her that Ellen’s grave has been desecrated. The family starts to encounter several supernatural incidents that Annie is convinced to be Ellen. However, her family history has shown that her side of the family regularly suffers from mental illnesses that caused their own deaths. Could this be an illusion caused by the disease? Or perhaps it’s the cause of the ghost itself?

Just a friendly fireman passing by the house…

Hereditary Film Review

This film was such a breath of fresh air from the horror genre and continues to prove that A24 just knows what’s up.

Plot-wise I will not go into detail as much of the strength of this film lies in keeping the audience in the dark and desperately guessing at what’s going on. I will say that this definitely doesn’t feel like a traditional horror film and actually feels more like a drama/mystery which is honestly right up my alley. However, the pacing does drag quite a bit in the middle and it feels like it focuses too much on the drama aspect and neglects the rest. There are so many clues and foreshadowing just laid out all over the film and everything slowly starts to click into place once you put everything together and I was honestly unsure of which of my 2 theories were right, right up till the final climax of the movie.

Character-wise, the mum is, of course, the main character but the son and daughter both play very key roles too and the son felt like equal parts the main character. Excellent performances all around. The family dynamic played a key role here and while everything seemed alright at first, as the film went on more and more layers were exposed and it just made the family that much more flawed and hence, believable.

The cinematography here is amazing with expert use of lingering wide shots and purposefully jarring cuts. There are little to no jump scares here and everything “scary” just kind of comes onto the screen or it’s already sitting in the frame and you might not even notice it. It just made it that much scarier, to be honest, and it doesn’t feel cheap at all. Take fucking note Hollywood.

Sound design here was superb and the ost really served to evoke the feel of the scene. Not only that, certain sound effects felt so subtle and very near you there were times where it even felt like it was someone in the cinema making the noise and it was not from the film. THAT is creepy af.

It’s a really creepy, atmospheric horror mystery. It almost feels like it could happen in real life and I actually want to rewatch a horror movie again.

Hereditary Film Review (2018) – True Horror Beneath!

Story

Pacing

Characters

Soundtrack

Reader Rating0 Votes0

What's good

No cheap jump scares

Amazing plot that keeps you guessing

Amazing acting

Beautiful cinematography

Genuinely creepy

Excellent use of sound design

What's bad

Draggy and meandering in the middle

Might be a bit too long but they had a lot to set up

4.3

Dayum!

This film shall go into one of the best horror films ever made!

With its fantastic usage of subtle horror and sound effects that is coupled with amazing plot, Hereditary shall show you the true fear within your heart that will make you be very afraid deep into your bones.